The Compensation for Zero Power

The Compensation for Zero Power

1992 5 May 12 The Compensation for Zero Power (390) The difference between God and man is not one of greater or less power. It is one of omnipotence and no power at all. God is all-powerful while man is quite powerless. One might ask what justification there could be for creating a situation in which man has not been invested with even one iota of power. Why was it legitimate for God to have created a being who was totally helpless, deriving power neither from within himself nor from anything in the outside world?

The only valid answer to this question will be one which offers man full compensation for his helplessness. Nothing short of total redressal can be the answer. This means that the answer must go as deep as the question, i.e. it must offer the key to transforming man’s helplessness into some form of recompense.

Such an answer is to be found explicitly spelt out in the Qur’an and the hadith. It lies in God’s special blessing which makes it possible for a man to secure something by the mere asking for it. If a man seeks something from God, he will certainly become a receiver. When man does not possess power of his own, he will have it only by receiving it from God. This is something which God is ever ready to grant him. True prayer in this sense guarantees compensation for his helplessness, for if it is made in all sincerity; it is bound to be accepted by the Almighty.

This is expressed in a Hadith in terms of the sincere prayer never going unfulfilled. That is, if a man calls on his Creator in earnest, his prayer is never rejected. The Prophet Jesus Christ made the same assertion:

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For everyone that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks a fish, will he give him a serpent? It ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” (Matthew, 7:7-11).